Biodiversity in the river

[Red Childress]

Well, here are some rare-ish species we have caught in this section of river over the years:


Tiger trout (1)
Sauger (4)
Saugeye (1)
Tiger musky (5)
Paddlefish (1, while musky fishing)
Atlantic Salmon (1)
Lake Trout (2)
Bowfin (1)
Mud Puppy (1,while musky fishing)
Gar (1, and haven’t seen one for several years)
Turtle (1, in the mouth with 1 hook while slow trolling for muskies)
1 and maybe 2 endangered species of Darters (while catching walleye bait)
1 big freshwater drum (while trout fishing)


This is all I can remember at the moment.

[gfishes]

Awesome! Lake trout and salmon? haha Thats wild. I wonder how they got there. I'm surprised that people don't run into more sauger. Populations are supposedly really strong in the lower river.

[Red Childress]

The US hatchery located at the dam will sometimes throw leftover fish into the river. The year we hit those 2 lakers, they reportedly released about 50 of them. The last laker we caught was about 8 miles downriver. The salmon I caught 1995 was only 200 yards downriver from the hatchery.

[gfishes]

Very cool. I want to make a trip up that way sometime. I wonder if they give tours of the facility. Do you think the tiger muskie you caught was natural?

[Red Childress]

Yes, tours are provided but not sure if there is a preference towards larger groups. I used to take students there to strip and fertilize eggs, etc....

We also did interior tours of the dam. Those we pretty cool.

Yes, I think it was a natural tiger.